Leinster chief: future’s bright

LEINSTER COUNCIL chairman Liam O’Neill has called for and end to the air of negativity and depression hanging over hurling in the province.

Kilkenny’s dominance at minor, U21 and senior levels has only been intermittently interrupted by Wexford, Offaly and Dublin in the last 10 years prompting critics to write the game’s epitaph in the province.

Munster’s strength in depth has highlighted the paucity of competition in Leinster further but, while admitting that the situation won’t improve overnight, the high-ranking GAA official is adamant that the future is bright.

“I’ve listened to enough pessimism about the state of hurling,” said O’Neill yesterday in Portlaoise.

“Never have we had so many people playing hurling in the province. Never before have we had so many trained coaches in the field. Never has hurling been so high on the agenda of the Leinster Council.

“Negativity has never helped us to redress the regional imbalance in Leinster hurling before. We cannot expect it to in the future. To achieve our goal of a consistent, competitive and more-equal Leinster Championship we must instead work together and maybe even a little more positively.”

There are already signs of progress. Dublin’s revival at underage levels seems to be spreading to the senior ranks judging by the fact that Tommy Naughton’s men came within two minutes of a Leinster final place on Saturday.

Carlow’s minors reached a provincial decider last year while Westmeath’s seniors took Dublin’s scalp and remained competitive against Kilkenny in their visit up from the Christy Ring Cup last year.

Adding Galway and/or Antrim to the mix is one popular band aid to have been thrown around in recent years but the really vital surgery is being done at the grass roots levels within the province itself.

The odd tweak here and there hasn’t hurt either. The Leinster Council reviewed their club championships as part of their plan, and the new format threw up the novel pairing of Ardclough (Kildare) and Ratharney (Westmeath) in the Intermediate final.

“Financial backing is hugely important,” added O’Neill. “Last year the Irish Sports Council announced that they were giving the GAA a sizeable grant for the promotion of hurling. The GAA are outing in money out of our own resources at national level into the project.

“Out of the combined funds a notional figure of €900,000 was allocated to Leinster for the promotion of hurling. We opted to finance a structure where we would employ high profile Hurling Development Administrators to direct hurling projects and to manage hurling development in eight targeted regions.”